Patents Assigned to Knowles Electronics, LLC
  • Patent number: 11753295
    Abstract: A MEMS device can include a solid dielectric including a plurality of apertures, the solid dielectric having a first side and a second side. The MEMS device can include a first plurality of electrodes extending completely through a first subset of the plurality of apertures, a second plurality of electrodes extending partially through a second subset of the plurality of apertures, a third plurality of electrodes extending partially into a third subset of the plurality of apertures. The MEMS device can include a first diaphragm coupled to the first plurality and to the third plurality of electrodes, the first diaphragm facing the first side of the solid dielectric. The MEMS device can include a second diaphragm coupled to the first plurality and to the second plurality of electrodes the second diaphragm facing the second side of the solid dielectric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Peter V. Loeppert, Michael Pedersen
  • Patent number: 11750983
    Abstract: A microphone assembly includes a substrate and a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) die. The substrate comprises a top layer and a bottom layer. The top layer comprises a layer of solder mask material spanning across at least a portion of the substrate and one or more standoffs formed of the solder mask material. The one or more standoffs and the layer of solder mask material comprising a single, contiguous structure. The MEMS die is disposed on the one or more standoffs and is coupled to the substrate via a bonding material. The bonding material forms an acoustic seal between the substrate and the MEMS die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Tony K. Lim, Norman Dennis Talag
  • Patent number: 11743647
    Abstract: An integrated circuit connectable to a sensor includes a transconductance element and a current-input analog-to-digital converter (I-ADC). The transconductance element is connectable to the sensor and is configured to generate a current signal representative of an output of the sensor. The I-ADC is configured to sample and quantize the current signal to generate a corresponding digital sensor signal. The I-ADC includes a continuous-time (CT) integrator stage, a discrete-time (DT) integrator stage, and a feedback digital-to-analog converter (FB-DAC). The CT integrator stage is configured to receive the current output and the I-ADC is configured to generate the digital sensor signal based on an output of the CT integrator stage and an output of the DT integrator stage. The FB-DAC is configured to provide a feedback signal based on the digital sensor signal for adding to the current signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC.
    Inventors: Mohammad Shajaan, Kristian Hansen, Jens Tingleff, Henrik Thomsen, Claus Fürst
  • Patent number: 11743642
    Abstract: A microphone assembly includes an acoustic transducer configured to generate an analog signal in response to pressure changes sensed by the acoustic transducer. The analog signal includes frequency components below a threshold frequency. The microphone assembly also includes an integrated circuit electrically coupled to the acoustic transducer and configured to determine a characteristic of frequency components below the threshold frequency, determine whether the characteristic of the frequency components corresponds to a fall event, and generate an output signal in response to a determination that the characteristic of the frequency components corresponds to the fall event. The microphone assembly also includes a housing having an external device interface with electrical contacts. The acoustic transducer and the integrated circuit are disposed within the housing. The integrated circuit is electrically coupled to contacts of the external device interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC.
    Inventor: John Albers
  • Patent number: 11743666
    Abstract: The disclosure relates generally to microphone and vibration sensor assemblies (100) having a transducer (102), like a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device, and an electrical circuit (103) disposed in a housing (110) configured for integration with a host device. The electrical circuit includes a transducer bias circuit that applies a bias to the transducer and a bias control circuit (204) that compensates for transducer sensitivity drift caused by variation in an environmental condition of the transducer, and electrical circuits therefor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC.
    Inventors: Vezio Malandruccolo, Mark Niederberger, Luca Bettini, Weiwen Dai
  • Patent number: 11729556
    Abstract: Two coils are wrapped in one of numerous different implementations. In one implementation, the two coils are wrapped about a portion of a bobbin that has at least three flanges. The first coil is disposed about a first portion of the bobbin between the first flange and the second flange, and a second coil is disposed about a second portion of the bobbin between the second flange and the third flange.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Yahui Zhang, Shehab Albahri, Richard Scheleski, Thomas Miller, Charles King
  • Patent number: 11716578
    Abstract: A MEMS die includes a substrate having an opening formed therein, a diaphragm having a first surface attached around a periphery thereof to the substrate and over the opening, and a backplate separated from a second surface of the diaphragm. The diaphragm includes at least one passage disposed between the first and second surfaces, and the at least one passage has a smaller cross-sectional area at the first surface than at the second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Vahid Naderyan, Sung Lee, Ankur Sharma, Nick Wakefield
  • Patent number: 11711641
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to microphone devices. One microphone assembly includes a transducer and a housing. The microphone assembly includes an integrated circuit coupled to the transducer. The housing includes a port, a base, and a cover. The cover includes an inner wall and an outer wall. The inner wall and outer wall can be coupled to the base. The inner wall and the base are mechanically coupled and define an enclosed volume. The transducer is disposed in the enclosed volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Donald Yochem, Meiling Huang
  • Patent number: 11706570
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to dual-diaphragm moving-coil audio transducers for hearing devices. The transducer includes a magnetic circuit including an inner portion located between first and second coils coupled to corresponding diaphragms supported by a housing. An outer portion of the magnetic circuit is adjacent outer portions of the first and second coils. The transducer emits sound when the first diaphragm moves in a first direction and the second diaphragm moves in a second direction, opposite the first direction, in response to an electrical audio signal applied to the first and second coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Mohammad Mohammadi, Christopher Lane Monti
  • Patent number: 11706561
    Abstract: A balanced armature receiver includes a gas permeable barrier located on a portion of the receiver defining a back volume to provide barometric relief. The barrier can be located in a wall portion or diaphragm of the receiver to vent the back volume to an exterior of the receiver directly, via a front volume, or via a nozzle. The gas permeable barrier is impermeable to liquid infiltration and can be configured to influence the low frequency response of the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Brenno Varanda, Chris Monti, Steve Kearey, Donald Verghese Jacob, Tim Wickstrom, Jose Salazar, Alex Grossman, Matt Manley
  • Patent number: 11700492
    Abstract: A microphone assembly including an acoustic transducer configured to generate an electrical signal responsive to acoustic activity, an integrated circuit electrically coupled to the acoustic transducer and configured to receive the electrical signal from the acoustic transducer and generate an output signal representative of the acoustic activity, a cover, and a substrate. The substrate including a first surface and a second surface to which the cover is coupled. The second surface is disposed at a perimeter of the substrate and the first surface is raised with respect to the second surface. The cover is coupled to the substrate to form a housing in which the transducer and the integrated circuit are disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventor: Fei Ding
  • Patent number: 11696082
    Abstract: A microphone assembly comprises a substrate. An acoustic transducer is disposed on the substrate and configured to generate an electrical signal responsive to an acoustic signal. An integrated circuit is disposed on the substrate and electrically coupled to the acoustic transducer. An enclosure is disposed on the substrate, and comprises a main body, and a sidewall projecting axially from outer edges of the main body towards the substrate and contacting the substrate such that an internal volume is defined between the enclosure and the substrate. An insulating layer is insert molded on an inner surface of the enclosure, or over molded on an outer surface of the enclosure such that the insulating layer is not disposed on a portion of the sidewall proximate to the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Norman Dennis Talag, Lili Borna, Tony K. Lim
  • Patent number: 11689848
    Abstract: A capacitive sensor assembly includes a capacitive transduction element and an electrical circuit disposed in the housing and electrically coupled to contacts on an external-device interface of the housing. The electrical circuit includes a sampling circuit having an operational sampling phase during which a voltage produced by the capacitive sensor is sampled by a sampling capacitor coupled to a comparator and an operational charging phase during which a second capacitor is charged by a charge and discharge circuit until the output of the comparator changes state, wherein the output of the sampling circuit is a pulse width modulated signal representative of the voltage on the input of the sampling circuit during each sample period. The output of the sampling circuit can be coupled to a delta-sigma analog-to-digital (A/D) converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Michael Pedersen, Peter V. Loeppert
  • Patent number: 11683648
    Abstract: A microphone assembly includes a housing including a sound port and an external-device interface having a plurality of electrical contacts. An acoustic transducer, such as a MEMS microphone, is disposed in the housing and is in acoustic communication with the sound port. An electrical circuit is disposed in the housing that is electrically coupled to the acoustic transducer and to electrical contacts on the external-device interface. A magnetic transducer including an electrical coil disposed about a core, such as a telecoil or charging coil configuration, is fastened to the housing. The electrical coil having leads, at least one of the leads electrically terminated at a coil contact of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Dean Badillo, Christopher Jones, Christopher Monti, Usha Murthy
  • Patent number: 11671778
    Abstract: A sound-producing balanced armature receiver, as disclosed, includes a receiver housing with a first internal volume, a second internal volume, and a sound outlet. The receiver includes a first diaphragm separating the first internal volume into a first front volume and a first back volume and a second diaphragm separating the second internal volume into a second front volume and a second back volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Donald Verghese Jacob, Christopher Monti, Matthew Manley, Kalyan Nadella, Yahui Zhang
  • Patent number: 11671764
    Abstract: A microphone assembly includes a substrate, an acoustic transducer, an integrated circuit, and a cover couples to the substrate to enclose a back volume of the microphone assembly in which the acoustic transducer and the integrated circuit are disposed. The acoustic transducer includes a back plate and a diaphragm oriented parallel to the back plate disposed over an aperture in the substrate to receive acoustic signals. The cover is a metallic material with a thickness and a corresponding thermal diffusivity to attenuate incoming radio-frequency signals. The attenuation of the radio-frequency signals prevents ambient noise detectable by the microphone assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Michael Pedersen, Joshua Watson, Adam Ariffin, Daniel J. Fairfield
  • Patent number: 11671766
    Abstract: A microphone device includes a base and a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) transducer and an integrated circuit (IC) disposed on the base. The microphone device also includes a cover mounted on the base and covering the MEMS transducer and the IC. The MEMS transducer includes a diaphragm attached to a surface of the substrate and a back plate mounted on the substrate and in a spaced apart relationship with the diaphragm. The diaphragm is attached to the surface of the substrate along at least a portion of a periphery of the diaphragm. The diaphragm can include a silicon nitride insulating layer, and a conductive layer, that faces a conductive layer of the back plate. The MEMS transducer can include a peripheral support structure that is disposed between at least a portion of the diaphragm and the substrate. The diaphragm can include one or more pressure equalizing apertures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC.
    Inventors: Sung Bok Lee, Vahid Naderyan, Bing Yu, Michael Kuntzman, Yunfei Ma, Wade Conklin, Peter Loeppert
  • Patent number: 11671775
    Abstract: The disclosure relates generally to microphone and vibration sensor assemblies (100) having a transducer (102), like a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device, and an electrical circuit (103) disposed in a housing (110) configured for integration with a host device. The electrical circuit includes a variable gain signal processing circuit (203) that processes an electrical signal from the transducer and a gain control circuit (204) that compensates for transducer sensitivity drift caused by variation in an environmental condition of the transducer, and electrical circuits therefor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Vezio Malandruccolo, Mark Niederberger, Weiwen Dai, Luca Bettini
  • Patent number: 11662236
    Abstract: A sensor device includes a substrate having a front surface and an opposing back surface. The back surface defines an indented region having an indented surface. The substrate defines a bottom port extending between the front surface and the indented surface. The sensor further includes a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) transducer mounted on the front surface of the substrate over the bottom port. The sensor also includes a filtering material disposed on the indented surface and covering the bottom port. The filtering material provides resistance to ingression of solid particles or liquids into the sensor device. The filtering material is configured to provide high acoustic permittivity and have low impact on a signal-to-noise ratio of the sensor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC.
    Inventors: Tony K. Lim, Norman Dennis Talag
  • Patent number: 11659328
    Abstract: A wearable audio device can include a microphone located to detect atmospheric sound including a user's voice. The device can include an acoustic vibration sensor located to detect sound including the user's voice conducted through the user's body. The device can include a body voice filter coupled to the acoustic vibration sensor. The device can include a filter parameter generator coupled to the acoustic vibration sensor and the body voice filter the filter parameter generator configured to generate parameters for the body voice filter based on a frequency characteristic of a signal obtained from the acoustic vibration sensor. The device can include a composite signal generator coupled to the body voice filter and the microphone and configured to generate a composite voice signal based on a low band signal obtained predominately from the body voice filter and based on a high band signal obtained predominately from the microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Knowles Electronics, LLC
    Inventor: Gints Klimanis